Wendy Hughes (29 July 1952 – 8 March 2014) was an Australian actress known for her work in theatre, film and television.^[2][3] Her career spanned more than forty years and established her reputation as one of Australia's finest and most prolific actors.^[4] In her later career she acted in Happy New Year along with stars Peter Falk and Charles Durning. In 1993 she played Dr. Carol Blythe, M. E. in Homicide: Life on the Street. In the late 1990s, she starred in State Coroner and Paradise Road.

Early life

Born in Melbourne, Australia,^[5] to English-born parents,^[6] Hughes originally studied to become a ballerina^[7] but, during her teenage years, she turned her focus to acting and later graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).^[5]

Career

After honing her skills with the Melbourne Theatre Company, she had her first film role in Petersen (1974).^[7] During the early 1970s, she also had her first television parts, including appearing in Power Without Glory, a television series first broadcast in 1976.

Called "one of the most important players in the development and productivity of Australian film",^[3] Hughes worked closely with prominent Australian artists such as the cinematographer John Seale and the writers David Williamson and Bob Ellis.^[3] She was one of the leading players in the 1970s' "New Australian Film" renaissance.^[8]

Hughes's first internationally known role was the character Patricia in Lonely Hearts (1982).^[9] That role began a decades-long collaboration with the Dutch-Australian director Paul Cox.^[9]

As one of the leading actresses in Australian cinema, Hughes's roles in the 1970s and 1980s included those in Newsfront, Kostas, My Brilliant Career, Lucinda Brayford, Touch and Go, Hoodwink, Lonely Hearts, Careful, He Might Hear You, My First Wife, I Can't Get Started, An Indecent Obsession, Echoes of Paradise, Boundaries of the Heart, Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train (1988) and Luigi's Ladies.^[10][11]

Hughes made her American debut in 1987 in John G. Avildsen's film Happy New Year, opposite Peter Falk and Charles Durning. In 1989, she starred opposite Pierce Brosnan in The Heist, a TV movie made by HBO.^[10] She continued to make occasional appearances on television, such as playing Jilly Stewart in the 1983 mini-series Return to Eden. During the early 1990s, she spent time in the United States, where she played medical examiner Dr Carol Blythe in the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. She also appeared in the miniseries Amerika and made a guest appearance as Lieutenant Commander Nella Daren on Star Trek: The Next Generation, in the episode Lessons, as one of the few love interests that Captain Jean-Luc Picard had on the show.

Back in Australia, Hughes played lead roles on television in The Man From Snowy River ("Snowy River: The McGregor Saga") and State Coroner. Hughes's film appearances at that time included the fact-based comedy-drama Princess Caraboo and Paradise Road. Her later film roles included Salvation (2007), The Caterpillar Wish (2006) and The Man Who Sued God (2001).^[12]

Stage appearances by Hughes during this time included as Mrs. Robinson in the 2001 Melbourne version of The Graduate, Martha in a 2007 staging of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? by the Melbourne Theatre Company,^[13] the character of Honor in Honour in 2010,^[14] and Henry Higgins's mother in Pygmalion (2012).

Her last TV appearance was in Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

Awards

She was nominated for Australian Film Institute acting awards six times, and won the Best Lead actress award in 1983 for her performance in Careful, He Might Hear You.^[15]

Personal life

Hughes had two children, a son with restaurateur Patric Juillet and a daughter, Charlotte, with actor Chris Haywood. She was also married to actor Sean Scully for a short time.^[5][16]

Death

Hughes died of cancer on 8 March 2014, aged 61. Actor Bryan Brown announced her death to an audience attending the play Travelling North in Sydney that afternoon, asking the audience to join him in a standing ovation in tribute to the late actress.^[16]

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

• Butterflies are Free (1971)
• An Ideal Husband (1976)
• Batman's Beachhead (1976)
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1981)
• Present Laughter (1983)
• Happy Days - The Musical (1999-2000)
• The Graduate (2001)
• Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2007; 2013)
• Honour (2010; 2013)
• Pygmalion (2012)